From the viewpoint of psychology, it is thought that perception analysis of the visual world includes two information processes: global (whole) and local (part) processes. It is assumed that the global process is carried out in the right hemisphere, and the local process, in the left hemisphere. In the present study, gamma EEG band activities during location memory (LM) task, as a global form, and shape memory (SM) task, as a local form, were calculated from the temporal, parietal and occipital areas using stimuli consisting of categorical patterns of small shapes. Gamma band activity during the SM task was greater than that during the LM task. It was assumed that the SM task requires a higher memory load condition than the LM task. In terms of the laterality ratio obtained from the whole electrode array, the gamma band was significantly activated in the right hemisphere during the LM task, and in the left hemisphere during the SM task. The gamma activation in the occipital area was significantly high in the right hemisphere for both tasks. High gamma band activation was observed in the right parietal area during the LM task and in the left temporal area during the SM task. It was concluded that global and local information processes occur in the left temporal areas and in the right occipitoparietal areas, respectively. The results of this study are useful in the assessment of visual cognition deficits in patients with cerebral hemispheric lesions in the physical therapy.

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In general, surgery is recommended for calcificated tendinitis of the shoulder if the patients have symptoms after conservative treatments, including needle aspiration and physical therapy. Many researchers agree about the need for adequate physical therapy consisting of range of motion exercise, muscle strengthening exercises and electrophysical agents. Some researchers report that ultrasound (u/s) promotes angiogenesis and calcium uptake to fibroblasts, but there are few studies about u/s effects on calcificated tendinitis of the shoulder. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the u/s therapy effect on calcification, pain during active movement, and to identify factors related to improvement in a randomized controlled fashion. We used the stratified random allocation method to assign 40 consecutive patients to experimental and control groups, so each group consisted of 20 patients. The experimental group was treated by u/s therapy and therapeutic exercises, and the control group was treated with therapeutic exercises only. All patients in both groups came to our department 3 times per week and u/s therapy was performed 3 times per week until the end of the study. First, we classified the calcifications as type I (clearly circumscribed and with dense appearance on radiography), type II (dense or clearly circumscribed appearance) and type III (translucent or cloudy appearance without clear circumscription) according to the classification of Gartner and Heyer. Radiography was performed every one month, and the main outcome measure was the change from the base-line of the calcification on radiography at the end of the treatment. The three point scale of Gartner and Heyer was used, in which a score of 1 indicates no change or a worsening of the condition, a score of 2 a decrease of at least 50 percent in the area and density of the calcification, and a score of 3 a complete resolution of the calcification. We also examined the affected shoulders for presence or absence of pain in active movement at the start and at the end of the study. The calcifications improved significantly and fewer patients had pain during active movement in the experimental group. There was a statistical significant disease duration difference from the first clinical presentation between scores 2 and 3 in the experimental group. The results of this study suggest that u/s therapy helps to resolve calcifications of shorter disease duration. Calcifications of longer disease duration tended to persist in spite of u/s therapy, but we thought treatment of 27-38 times (95% CI), until score 2 was attained, was a desirable strategy.

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Denervation elicits profound alterations in the morphometry of the skeletal muscle. There is evidence that the increased mechanical load placed upon the muscle via rhythmic stretching attenuates denervation induced alterations in muscle morphology. To investigate the effect of short duration static stretching (40 min/day) for denervated and reinnervated muscle, a histochemical study was performed on the soleus muscle of the rat. Twenty-one eight-week-old female Wistar rats were used. Partial denervation was carried out by locally freezing the proximal root of the sciatic nerve innervating the soleus muscle. Contralateral hindlimbs were untreated and served as control. Axonal degeneration was evident within the sciatic nerve following freezing, although variable amounts of damage were observed and thin nerve fibers were observed at 3 weeks. No clear difference of morphological change of the sciatic nerve was observed in the short duration static stretching groups (group S) or the non-stretching groups (group D). The wet weight of the denervated soleus muscles progressively declined to a minimum at 2 weeks after injury (group D, 50.8 ± 8.9%; group S, 61.3 ± 4.2%) and began to reverse in the following 3 weeks. Muscle wet weight for short duration static stretching groups similarly decreased and began to reverse in the following 3 weeks. The muscle fiber cross-sectional area also similarly changed with the muscle wet weight. The type II fiber ratios of the denervated sides were consistently higher than the control levels. In non-stretching groups, type II fibers had increased by 3 weeks after denervation (49.4%), whereas type II fiber ratios of the short duration static stretching groups decreased after 3 weeks (31.3%). These data suggests that mechanical stimuli provided by short duration static stretching can prevent the atrophy of the denervated muscle over a short period. In addition, it was indicated that short duration static stretching affected the reinnervated muscle fiber type composition. However, the reinnervation took the crucial role of recovering from the atrophy and composing the integrity of the soleus muscles.

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Some schizophrenics experience difficulty in explaining precisely their physical condition because of their blunted senses of fatigue and malaise. In this case presentation, using Borg's scale, we examined the effect of a physical therapy program on the sense of perceived fatigue in two male outpatient cases with residual schizophrenia over 6 years. Case 1 showed that the HR and the RPE linearly increased as the exercise strength increased after year 2. On the other hand, case 2's changes in RPE were not parallel to linear increases in HR, and consistently expressed a certain range of exercise as "light" and ended with "very, very hard" which continued over 6 years. These results suggested that the long period of continuing repetitive physical therapy in case 1 caused habituation to the exercise and he became aware of physical responses, and these resulted in an improvement of RPE. We suggest that awareness of the degree of a patient's ability of expression through the observation of changes in RPE could provide a useful clue for advancing various therapeutic programs for patients with residual schizophrenia.

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